The Fatale: Challenging the Gender Binary of Classic Cinema

‘The Fatale’ recontextualizes 1980s cinema and the archetypal portrayal of the femme fatale. Historically told within a heteronormative narrative driven by a dangerous woman seducing the hero to his downfall, this common film stereotype portrays the femme’s use of unapologetic sexuality as the traits of an unstable character without depth.

However, this film icon can be rewritten as a multifaceted character, one that can exist outside stereotypical cinema structures reinforced by the gender binary. An individual that is in control of their own sexual empowerment with the pursuit of their own ends. ‘The Fatale’ presents faux film stills of characters displaying their sexuality as blunt force tools of power and pleasure within a more inclusive narrative.